Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,90

wrapped around Indy, I'd gotten a text, warning me that we were patching in Jaxson and Hawk tonight as well as swearing in a couple of Prospects.

The council, for whatever reason, were hanging around me, and while I was the one wielding the bottles of liquor, that was unusual. Rex normally held court on one of the sofas by the pool table, and the others tended to mosey around in circles.

Although, now that I thought about it, the last time we'd had a party like this, not one of these fuckers had been tied to an Old Lady.

I guessed it figured that they didn't know what to do with themselves when their cocks were, as Link had so charmingly phrased it, in a knot for their Old Ladies.

Normally, they'd have been boning anything that moved, well, apart from Nyx who’d always been particular, but I'd seen Link and Steel's bobbing asses more than I'd ever seen my own, that was for sure.

Sin, whose back was to me, his gaze on the crowd of wild animals that had taken my brothers' place for the evening, murmured, "The Old Ladies are heading outside."

"Did Giulia show you that sketch?" Rex asked Nyx, who'd popped up from out of nowhere.

With his attention twisted between the women and the Prez, Nyx murmured, "Which sketch?"

“Indy's tat. Giulia wants an MC brand."

I blinked at the notion, then Link groaned. "Oh fuck, that would be so hot. We need all of them to get one. Jesus, I'd bust my wad every time I looked at Lily with my MC's brand on her."

Rex snorted. "You're a fucking pervert, do you know that? Since when did you jones after ink?"

"Since I got a woman I want the whole world to know is mine?" He shook his head. “Jesus, Rex, ain't you listening? I'm not like Cruz—"

I shot him a warning look, then cast a glance at Nyx who was still watching the women as they retreated through the crowd.

He grinned at me, but made a zipping motion with his hand over his mouth.

"I'm interested in the idea, to be honest," Rex said, surprising me because women were good for fucking or wifing, nothing in between.

I never said this world of mine wasn't misogynistic.

"You are? I'm surprised," Sin commented, evidently on the same mental path as me. "I didn't think you'd like the idea."

"Tiff showed you too, huh?" Rex retorted. "And you like the idea?"

Sin's eyes lit up, but his grin was sheepish. "It's hot."

"I want it as a tramp stamp just above Lily's ass." Link groaned, then jacked himself. "Fuck, my eyeballs just came."

Steel shoved him in the shoulder. "Dirty fucker."

"You know it," Link agreed, totally unabashed by his actions.

Which was how it should be.

When it boiled down to it, we were all just shooting the shit with family. Especially the guys in front of the bar.

They'd grown up together, had come up together through the ranks of the MC. Me? I was an outsider, but with my ties to Indy, it surprised me to realize that, if only by proxy, I'd be considered family as well.

If I branded her.

I wouldn't do that just to get access to the council, but the idea of being included, of being a part of a bigger whole did something to me.

Nothing like what the woman herself did. A woman who wasn't here.

Who'd fucking refused to come.

I swore, that woman of mine didn't know when to quit. Her ass was going to be sore in the morning for her insolence, that was all I fucking knew.

"They're all doing more for the club than any of our moms ever did," Rex was saying, and I tuned back into the conversation, interested by his take on things. "Seems only fitting they should get some representation."

"Only councilors’ women?" I asked, curious for obvious reasons.

Rex shrugged. "Haven't thought past that, especially because all the new Old Ladies belong to councilors. But I guess we could see on a case by case basis. Not every woman would want a club patch." He pulled out his phone when it buzzed, his brow puckering as he read whatever was on the screen.

One second, the party was going down, the council was shooting the shit and Rex was handling business on his cell, the next, a blast tore through the clubhouse, bursting the windows, prompting thousands of shards of glass to soar through the bar.

I ducked, it was only instinct, but when the boom sounded next, ricocheting in my head, pushing us